At
a time when this country faces a $14 trillion national debt and a huge deficit,
Congress must aggressively move toward deficit reduction.

However, as we do so,
we must be mindful of what caused the deficit in the first place and make
certain that the solution to this crisis includes shared sacrifice – not simply
slashing programs which are of enormous importance to working families, the
elderly, the sick, children and the most vulnerable members of our society.

Our
national debt was built up over the last 10 years because of two wars, tax
breaks for the rich, the Wall Street bailout and a prescription drug program.
ALL UNPAID FOR!The deficit also soared as a result of declining
tax revenues during a recession brought on by the greed and illegal behavior of
Wall Street.

Further,
the debate over deficit reduction comes at an unusual moment in American
economic history. While the middle class is in rapid decline and poverty
is increasing, the gap between the very wealthy and everybody else is growing
wider. In fact, over the last several decades almost all new income
created in this country has gone to the top 1 percent, who now earn more than
the bottom 50 percent. In addition, the United States now has the most
unequal distribution of wealth of any major country with the top 400
individuals owning more wealth than the bottom 150 million.

Given
the reality of record-breaking corporate profits and the increasing wealth of
the people on top, it should surprise no one that poll after poll shows that
the overwhelming majority of Americans want the deficit to be addressed through
shared sacrifice.They believe that all sectors of our society should
take a hit in order to help us with deficit reduction, not just the weak and
vulnerable. Unfortunately, the Republicans have given us an extreme one-sided
budget which makes devastating cuts to programs that tens of millions of
Americans depend upon, while asking nothing from the wealthy and large
corporations.

The
House-passed budget would end Medicare as we know it by giving senior citizens
inadequate vouchers to buy health insurance from private companies. Seniors
would, on average, see their out-of-pocket expenses double by about $6,000 a
year. It would also cut, over 10 years, $770 billion from Medicaid, vastly
increasing the number of uninsured Americans and threatening the long-term care
of the elderly who live in nursing homes.

It
also would make savage cuts in education, nutrition, affordable housing,
infrastructure, environmental protection and virtually every program that low-
and moderate-income Americans depend upon. With all the focus on spending
cuts, however, the Republican budget does nothing to reduce unnecessary
military spending at a time when defense outlays have more than tripled since
1997 and now consume more than half of the discretionary budget.

And
here’s the kicker. The House Republican budget does not ask the wealthiest
people in this country, whose tax rates are now the lowest on record, to
contribute one dime more for deficit reduction. Nor does it propose to do away
with any of the loopholes that enable extremely profitable corporations to pay
little or no federal income taxes. Quite the contrary! The Republican budget
actually provides $1 trillion more in tax breaks over the next 10 years for the
very rich.

The
Republican House budget is the most radical right-wing extremist budget ever
passed in the modern history of our country, and the more the American people
learn about it the more they are rejecting it.

The
question now arises: Where are the Democrats? Where is President
Obama?

Will
the president remain strong in his demand that any deficit reduction agreement
end Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthy? Will he really fight to eliminate
corporate tax loopholes? Will he end the absurd policies which allow the rich
and large corporations to avoid paying tens of billions in taxes by
establishing phony addresses in offshore tax havens?

As
Vermont’s senator and a member of the Budget Committee, I will not support a
plan to reduce the deficit that does not call for shared sacrifice. At
least 50 percent of any deficit reduction plan must come from increased revenue
from the wealthy and large corporations.

Instead
of ending Medicare as we know it and making savage cuts to community health
centers and children’s health care programs, we must ask the top 2 percent of
income earners, who currently pay the lowest upper-income tax rate on record,
to start paying their fair share of taxes. Instead of making it harder for
working families to send their kids to college, we must end the foreign tax
shelters that enable the wealthy and large corporations to avoid paying tens of
billions in U.S. taxes. Instead of making major cuts in job programs, in
infrastructure, public transportation and sustainable energy we must do away
with a wide variety of loopholes that allow Wall Street executives, whose
profits and compensation packages are soaring, to have a lower tax rate than
middle-class workers.

The
deficit crisis is real and must be addressed. But it cannot be solved on
the backs of the weak and vulnerable. Every segment of our society,
including those who have money and power, must contribute and must sacrifice.